The chicks have finally started free ranging, however, instead of wandering around the back yard, they walk into the garage and stand there with beaks pressed against the wire netting gate. All we could see was little feathered top-knots peeping into the patio – the exact reverse of the picture below. We’ve now had to shut the back gate to the garage to stop them from doing this. Not because it wasn’t endearing, but because they really have to learn to range around outside.
We’re also going to have to take their box from them. This feels a bit mean, but they are getting too big and they all insist on cramming in there at night – even though they have nice perches to roost on. (it’s a good job that our neighbours can’t see the chicks crammed into their box at night – we (English) have a bad reputation for battery farming and it would look as though we had bought factory farming techniques with us!)